Hornby releases improved BR J52 No. 68873 in early BR livery
Hornby’s new BR J52 No. 68873 arrived in Hornsey condition and ex-works black, giving collectors a named early-BR shunter with far better detail and running than the 1981 model.
Hornby has finally given the J52 the BR-era treatment many buyers wanted, and it did so with a very specific draw: Hornsey-allocated No. 68873 in ex-works condition, finished in plain black with the early BR cycling lion crest. At £174.99, it sat in the premium end of the OO steam market, but the appeal was obvious the moment you looked past the paintwork. This was not just a relivery of an old model. It was Hornby’s first new tooling for the class since the 1980s, and that alone made it a much bigger release than a simple number swap.
The prototype story gives the model real weight. No. 68873 was built in 1905 at Doncaster Works, entered Great Northern Railway service as No. 1274, became LNER No. 4274 in 1924, then was renumbered 8873 before entering BR service in 1948. Hornby lists allocations to Doncaster goods yard, King’s Cross, Hornsey and Colwick, with condemnation in September 1955. That timeline locks the model into the early to mid-1950s, which is exactly the sweet spot for a plain-black BR shunter with the first-generation crest and later-pattern safety valves and steam injectors.
For layout planning, that is where the J52 earns its keep. This is the sort of 0-6-0ST that belongs on a compact branch terminus, a yard throat, a dockside scene or an inner-city goods layout where short rakes and frequent shunting matter more than main line spectacle. Think vans, minerals, opens and occasional mixed freight, not long express trains. Hornsey, King’s Cross and Colwick all point to a locomotive comfortable in dense, working railway territory, and the model’s small size makes it a natural fit for tight pointwork, goods sidings and modest operating plans.
The comparison with Hornby’s original 1981 J52 makes the new version easy to place in a roster. That earlier engine was based on preserved No. 1247, a J13 in GNR lined green, and used a standard 0-6-0 chassis with an open-framed motor and straight gears driving the leading axle. By modern standards it was simplified, compromised and noisy. The new BR No. 68873 is the opposite sort of proposition: a proper collectible hook, a very specific prototype, and a locomotive that can just as easily sit in a display case as it can take charge of a short branch freight without feeling out of place.
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